Dragon Deez Cards Across Your Mat - Miirym Budget Deck Tech

Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm | Illustrated by Kekai Kotaki

Hello, everyone! A few weeks ago I was playing Commander with some friends, and one of the newer players asked if it was possible to build a Bard deck. We checked Scryfall and realized that it was not. I mean, we could, but it would likely be way too jank. That being said, one card stuck out to me: Korlessa, Scale Singer. So I suggested he build a deck with a Bard commander around Dragons because Bards try to seduce everything, even Dragons. Wait...does that mean Donkey is a Bard? Okay, let's get back on track here. This conversation inspired me to build the most popular Temur commander: Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm.

Despite her incredible power, she's still under $1.00 at the time of recording/writing, and much like Voja, Jaws of the Conclave, she costs six mana and has ward, but it's only ward two instead of that super overpowered ward three. Also, because she doesn't care how our Dragons enter, we get to build a fun hybrid of blink and Dragons, along with a ton of ramp to get our big flying snakes with legs into play. I even included an infinite combo in the deck. You get all of that for the low low price of $52 USD, so without further ado, let's get into it! 

Ramp

We need to make sure we have enough mana to cast our flying lizards. I included the usual ramp spells, but I want to focus on the creature ramp. There's the traditional mana dork, Scaled Nurturer, the untraditional dork, Nimbleclaw Adept, and Patron of the Arts, which generates a Treasure when it enters and when it dies. We also have some cost-reducers in Dragonspeaker Shaman and Dragonlord's Servant.

There are a number of Dragon-specific mana rocks that are worth including, like Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind, Lapis Orb of Dragonkind, Jade Orb of Dragonkind, Orb of Dragonkind, and Dragon's Hoard. The first three provide a benefit when the mana is used to cast Dragon creature spells, while the fourth Dragon Orb fixes and provides card advantage, and the last one is repeatable card draw or mana. 

Favorite Dragons

With 31 creatures, 29 of which are Dragons, there are simply too many to talk about in a single article, so instead let's talk about my favorites. First is the Dragon cycle from Kamaigawa, Neon Dynasty: Atsushi, the Blazing Sky, Kairi, the Swirling Sky, and Kura, the Boundless Sky. With Miirym in play, we get two copies of these Dragons, essentially doubling death triggers. Additionally, original Temur Dragon, Intet, the Dreamer, which is especially strong if we can get two or three of them. 

Cheating Dragons

As mentioned earlier, Miirym doesn't care how Dragons enter, just so long as they enter, so I included a small blink package of Illusionist's Stratagem, Ghostly Flicker, and Displace, wach of which can blink two Dragons and are instant speed, letting us protect our commander. However, my favorite addition to the deck is the new Doppelgang. With the amount of ramp we have in the deck, it's easy to get X equal to four or five. Miirym doesn't give us additional Dragons if they are tokens, but we can still additional ETB triggers. We can also use this to ramp, draw, or get whatever powerful permanents our opponents might control. Finally, Anzrag's Rampage is an artifact board wipe and a way to cheat a Dragon into play. 

Combo Time

Before we talk about upgrades, let's talk about the combo of Savage Ventmaw and Aggravated Assault. It's a straightforward two-card combo. You attack with Savage Ventmaw, getting six mana. Then after combat, you use five mana to activate Aggravated Assault, giving you another combat phase. Now you repeat this process until the table is dead. However, sometimes your opponents will have blockers that can kill Ventmaw, but fear not.

I always include Obscuring Haze in my green decks. This will prevent all damage from creatures your opponents control, letting you attack freely. Even if they block, their creatures will still have damage marked on them, so unless they have instant-speed removal, you'll win. You could also add Fog and turn this into an infinite mana combo, but I think you're better off just beating down with combat damage. 

Also, because we can get so many attacks, I made sure to include Dragons with powerful attack triggers. We have Thrakkus the Butcher, which doubles the power of Dragons you control when it attacks; Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, to goad creatures your opponents control; and the already-mentioned Intet, the Dreamer. 

The Upgrades

There are quite a few powerful additions you can add to this deck. I feel like I've mentioned Spark Double, Helm of the Host, and Irenicus's Vile Duplication in every upgrade section for blue decks, but can you blame me? They are incredibly powerful, especially with Miirym, allowing you to get multiple copies of your commander, leading to some crazy board states.

I know people are going to groan, but Roaming Throne, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling are also solid upgrades as they all basically double up Miirym's trigger. If you want more on-theme upgrades, I'd suggest picking up Utvara Hellkite and Terror of the Peaks, both of which were reprinted recently. Finally, I'd add Goldspan Dragon and Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient to round out the Dragon-focused upgrades. 

But those were just the creature upgrades. Okay, Helm and Duplication aren't creatures but they go with Spark Double. If you want to improve the enchantment suite, I'd find room for Dragon Tempest as a win condition. Temur Ascendancy is a haste-enabler and card draw engine. We're also adding Lurking Predators and Sneak Attack to cheat Dragons into play. If you want to get even more Dragons, try out Rite of Replication and Raise the Palisade as a one-sided board bounce.